Random question, Is it ok to drink water out the bathroom tap?

[Chloefairydust]

The BF has man flu so is laid up in bed lol, he asked me to fill up his glass with some water, so turn to go downstairs to the kitchen, and he says just use the bathroom water🤢… So I did but I would never drink bathroom water, and I’m not sure why… I assume it all comes from the same pipes 🤣

So is it just me? Why is bathroom water so unappetising? And is it actually the same as kitchen water? 🤔

This- it depends entirely on your plumbing. If you have older house you need to check where water is coming form. I’ve lived in older houses that are tank fed, but one that had been refurbished and was mains.

I was at home from school the day the plumber took out the old tank from my parent's house as a kid. I was horrified that I'd been secretly sucking water off my toothbrush for years against my parent's wishes, it was the most disgusting filthy thing I've ever seen.

Mains fed in every property I've lived in since then <grim>

I can't drink from the bathroom tap, I have a mental block on it. We had a tank when I was growing up and it was drilled into me that it couldn't be drunk. Now all our taps are mains fed but still can't bring myself to do it.

Only if it's mains fed, if it's from a tank in the loft, go up there, lift the lid and see if you still fancy drinking it.

@MrsFionaCharming My parents house has a water softener, which supplies the bathrooms, so that water isn’t drinkable.

it absolutely is drinkable. If you took your entire daily recommended intake of water from a softened tap (approx 2L), you will have consumed less salt that a single slice of white bread.

the amounts of salt in softened water are measured in parts per million- so my water (which is some of the hardest in the country) is measured at 277 ppm, which is what is replaced with sodium ions in the softening process.

277 ppm in 2L (so 2,000 ml). 1ml of water=1g (at sea level). So 1g=1,000 micrograms, so there are 277 micrograms per litre, or 548 micrograms in 2 litres of water, or half a gram.

adults RDI for salt is 6 grams, and even children should have 2g. So the idea that you can’t drink softened water is just not true. It’s absolutely minimal amounts of salt.

I think in the past bathroom taps would run off a tank in the loft, which could be a breeding ground for bacteria, but as long as you have fairly modern plumbing it's fine. The 'rule' has just made its way into collective subconscious, as something we've been told at some point, or something our parents/ grandparents told us, because it was needed when they were young and they didn't realise it no longer is.

Personally I still don't drink it, despite knowing that logically it's fine. I've convinced myself it tastes different to, when there's absolutely no reason why it should.

We had a manky tank in the loft when I was a kid and the water from the bathroom tap tasted different, not nice. I don't think many houses have them now, and have no idea why they had them then?

I’ve drunk it, also given it to my kids once or twice. Doesn’t taste the best and it’s warmz

i was always told by my dad not to drink from bathroom tap and i never have hahaha not sure if its true or not

Depends on your plumbing.

Our house the cold feed comes in via the bathroom so our bathroom tap is the coldest, freshest water. It takes a while to run cold through to the kitchen.

Also older systems sometimes have water sitting in a tank for the hot water. If this is the case, although it's not common now, I'd avoid it.

We definitely don't have tanks as they were taken out when the loft was converted so everything is off the mains.

It's it's fed from the mains it's fine. If it's fed from a tank in the loft, it's not.
Most modern setups are absolutely fine.

@Ahiccle why are you resurrecting a zombie thread about bathroom water?

So they can put a link to their water filtration company presumably. Bit of a rubbish advert considering most MNers are in the UK It is probably a bot.

Our cat drinks out of the toilet and seems OK. It's doing it now.

Oh Jesus! look at the cat, it's writhing about, i think it's choking. OMG what we gonna do?

Ah no worries, 'tis only a little fur ball. Phew!

Our cold water in the bathroom runs off a tank in the loft. Once the shower filter blocked and we found a dead wasp decomposing in there. We had, had a wasp issues months previously so it must of squeezed in and been quietly sitting there. I started filling up my water glosser in the kitchen.

Glosser/ flosser stupid autocorrect

The things that MNers get about never cease to amaze me. How people function is beyond me.

Great plug 🙄

We have a water softener and we drink from it all the time. We do have a hard water drinking tap but it is in the utility room so we never bother to use it. Plus our water is so hard that we don't like the taste anyway.

The amount of sodium is negligable. You'd have to drink about 6 or 8 glasses of softened water to equal the amount of sodium in one slice of white bread. There is about 5 times as much sodium in a glass of skimmed milk than there is in a cup of softened water. It's hard to be exact because everyone's sodium content is slightly different depending on the amount of salt required to soften their local water, but it's really not that big a deal.

Be careful I got a really bad infection and had to stay in hospital for 3 weeks on iv antibiotics because I did this

I've been drinking it for the last 20 years so I think I'll be ok